Improvement in propellers



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

BANFORD GILBERT, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROPELLERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,229, dated November 15,1853.

V T0 all whom it may concern,.-

-Be it known that I, BANEOED GILBERT, ot Pittsburg, in the county ot' Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Reciprocating Propellers for Steamboats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this speciiication.

My invention consists in the combination, with the double floats, of the anchors, one of which is connected with each pair of floats, and which operate at the same time to retain those floats which are for the time out of use in a horizontal position, so as to present as little resistance to t-he water as possible,

i and also to sustain the other float in its ver- I floats which were inactive into operation, 1 and raising and retaining those previously in use in the horizontal position and out of l the way, by means of which without stopping the engine or even reversing its action the effect will be changed and the boat propelled in an opposite direction. v

In the drawings, Figure I is a perspective view of a double set of propellers made on my improved plan. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the frame-work in which the reciprocating propellers move. Fig. 3 is a perspective view ot one set of propellers turned so as to show their construction and arrangement more clearly. Fig. et is a transverse section of my propellers in their frame, and Figs. 5 and 6 are longitudinal sections of one set of propellers Without the frame, the two gures showing the paddles set in reverse positions.

In the several drawings the same letters refer to like parts of the machinery.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improved propeller, I will proceed to describe its construction and op eration.

In the drawings, d d is a frame-work of timber or iron, strengthened by cross-pieces and braces, which is designed to contain a double set of propellers. This frame-work may be covered at top, but is open to the water beneath. To the longitudinal side pieces ot` the frame are attached friction-rolls r o', the., at suitable distances apart, so as to receive the guides c o, attached to the sides of the propeller-frames.

The propeller-frames (see Fig. 3) consist of two side pieces d d', of the same length as the frame-work d and rather deeper than the iioats or paddles e e', &c. In each propellerframe there may be several pairs of these iloatsve e', placed so far apart as not to interfere with each other.

The construction and operation of each pair of iioats are alike. The description ot one pair will therefore suffice.

The float-s e e are placed side by side and are hung loosely on hooks or hinges, by which they are attached to the boards f f, one of which connects the two sides of the frame over each pair of iioats. NVhen in a state of rest, the floats would both hang perpendicularly side by side on the frame and liable to swing to and fro were they not kept apart and fixed in the requisite positions by the anchors g. There is one anchor for each pair of floats; The shank of the anchor is attached to one of the side pieces d of the propeller-frame by means of the pin or pivot t, on which it turns, and is placed between the'two floats in each pair. The arms or flukes of the anchor form a quadrant, or one-fourth of a circle, and as the extremities of the arms are blunt and rest against the tace of the iioats between which the anchor is placed they prevent the floats from coming together, keeping them at all times at least ninety degrees apart, as shown in Figs. 5 and G, so that when the float e is in a perpendicular position the iioat e will be horizontal, or nearly so. The pivott is a short distance from the top of the shank of the anchor and above it, as the extremity of the shank is a pin o, which passes through a longitudinal slot in the shank. This pin o connects the top of the shank with a rod of iron h, which lies in a groove at the upperv edge of e aegee the side pieced. To this rod lz allthe anchors in one propeller are attachedin the manner just described, so that when the'rod 7i is slid backward or forward by the handle 7.; (which is attached by pins to the slide CZ of the frame and to the rod 7L in like manner as the shank of the anchor) it turns all the anchors simultaneously. The distances between the pins i and o and the sweep of the handle k are so adjusted as that by pushing the handle K either backward or forward the fluke of each anchor passes through an arc of ninety de grecs, carrying one lioat on each pair up to a 4horizontal position and allowing the other iioat to fall to a perpendicularposition. The change effected by altering the position of the handle 7c is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Vhcn one float e in a pair is raised by the fluke of its anchor to a horizontal posit-ion, it is immovable and has no eifect to propel the boat or to impede its progress, while the other float e, when passing in one direction through the water, is retained in its vertical position by being pressed against the extremity of the fluke of the anchor, and in the return-stroke of the engine, when passing in the opposite direction, is free to swing back at' any angle which it may naturally assume in being dragged through the water, presenting, of course, its thin edge to the water, thus aft'ording the least possible resistance to its passage. At the next stroke of the engine it will of course, by being pushed against the water, fall into a vertical position, presenting its broad edge to the water, and so on. The guides c c are of any suitable shape to slide between the friction-rolls r r r, dsc., attached to the frame-work a a, and form part of the sides d d of the propeller, one guide extendingon each side along the whole length of each propeller-frame. The design of these guides is to form the bearing of the propellers in the frame-work a ci, as they do not come in contact at any other points than where the guides rest between the rolls, and they secure an easy and uniformly steady motion of the propellers in the frame-work a a.

One set of propellers only may be used, if desired; but the motion of the boat in that case would not be as regular as if a double set'were used, as represented in the drawings, Fig. l.

My propellers are to be entirelysubmerged, andinay be placed either at the stern of the boat or a double carriage or frame at each side, or one double carriage underneath the vessel, where its conformation. will admit of such an arrangement.

lVhen a double carriage, as represented in the drawings, is used, the advantage of my improved propeller is most apparent, forin that case one setof floats in one carriage is always acting against the water during the time when the corresponding set in the other carriage is being drawn back, and by their connection to one crank-shaft the same stroke which propels the boat with the fioats of one carriage draws the corresponding floats in the other carriage back to be ready to commence its stroke when the other has just expended its force, and this without experiencing in any great degree that loss of power by reaction which is incident to the use of the ordinary ducks foot or other reciprocating' propellers heretofore proposed and invented. The reciprocating motion is communicated to the propellers from the crank-shaft Z by the con necting-shafts m m. Motion is communicated to the crank-shaft Z by the crank-ar1n n, which is moved by the steam-engine or other motor in any of the usual methods.

Having thus described the construction of my improved propellers, it is almost needless to dwell more at length on its mode of' operation. Suppose the paddles or floats to be set bythe handle 7c in the position shown in Figs. l and 5, the foremost float e in each pair be- ;ing retained in a horizontal position by the `fluke of its anchor, and the hind float e allowed to hang vertically. (The arrows underneath Figs. 5 and 6 show the direction in which the boat will be propelled with the padjdles set as shown in those figures.) New, if the :propeller is moved by the engine in a direction contrary to that of the arrow in either figure, the iioat e', Fig. 5, will be pressed by lthe water against the extremity of the iiuke of the anchor, and being then in a vertical position will present its broadside to the water, in which it is submerged, and will retain its position during the whole of that stroke kof the engine. Se soon, however, as the return-stroke commences and the propeller is drawn back in the direction of thearrow (the float e being still retained in its horizontal position) the float e, hanging loosely on its hinges, will swing back into a nearly hor1- zontal position, assuming naturally that an gle at which it can be drawn through the water with the least resistance. It' it is designed to revers'e the course of the boat, the handles 7c, being in the position shown in Fig. 5, are drawn forward into the position shown in Fig. 6, which instantaneously changes the position of the anchors and consequently the oats also, bringing the float e, which before was out of the way and in a horizontal position, into use and raising the float c out of the way. (See Fig. 6.) This will of course immediately change the effect of the motion of the propellers and will at once reverse the motion of the boat.

In ordinary arrangements for changing the action of paddle-wheels and propellers the motion given by the engine to the propeller must be reversed, which requires the stopping of the engine and reversing its action; but by my arrangement no such detention is necessary, as the paddlesor iioats may be reversed independently of the action of the engine and of the motion of the propeller-frames. rllhe boat may also be caused to turn round to either side by reversing the action of one set of propellers and not of the other side, so that rogge in case of emergency if the rudder becomes from any cause unmanageable the vessel might be steered by means of the propeliers themselves.

Having thus described my improved propeller7 I do not desire to claim as my invention the use of submerged propellers actuated by a reciprocating motion, nor the use of propellers with two leaves or floats hinged at or near their point of connection and operating by opening and closing as they pass to and fro through the Water, as in the case of the ducks-oot propeller; but

What l do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the anchors g with the double iioats or paddles e e', suspended so as' to hang vertically in the Water when in use and operating with a horizontal reciprocating motion, one of the ioats in each set propelling the boat in one direction and the other float in each set propelling it in the opposite direction, one anchor being combined with each set of double iioats for the purpose of retaining one float in a horizontal position, so as to pass through the Water with the least possible resistance when not in use and sustaining the pressure of the Water against the paddle in use when in the Vertical position, which the anchor compels it to retain While propelling the boat and leaving it free to assume the angle of least resistance While returning through the water, the simultaneous reversing of the double paddles being accomplished by means of a handle, which shifts the connecting-rod, to which all the anchors in one fra-me are attached, in the manner hereinbefore described.

BANFORD GILBERT. Witnesses:

B. B. CAMPBELL, N. BUcKMAsH. 

